When all territories were transferred, security measures were issued, the relocation of wealthy families and border defense work were completed, it was already June 10th. After Yu Qiuping assisted Akechi Mitsuhide in completing the work, he was ready to return to Maple Leaf Mountain City—
- He has not been back for more than half a year since his expedition in October last year. However, Akechi Mitsuhide insisted on keeping Yu Qiuping for a dinner in Longshan City, and Yu Qiuping had no reason to refuse.
After the maid led Yu Qiuping into the room, Mitsuhide Akechi was not waiting inside. The food on the table was steaming hot, and the rich fragrance made Yu Qiuping's waiting even more painful. Yu Qiuping looked to the east through the window of the castle tower
, you can vaguely see Kyoto at the foot of the Southeast Mountain. After a while, Akechi Mitsuhide came belatedly from the inner room - only then did Yu Qiuping know the reason for her tardiness.
She was wearing makeup, and it was a woman's makeup. When she leaned over to salute, dressed in Tsing Yi, her indescribably delicate appearance actually made Yu Qiuping momentarily speechless - presumably his friends were also stunned every time they saw Kaede Imagawa.
Probably because of this reason.
"I've been waiting for a long time." There was no one around the room, so Akechi Mitsuhide could relax and softly said in her soft voice, "Please use it."
"I'm starting." Yu Qiuping smiled, picked up the chopsticks, and couldn't wait to pick up a piece of tempura. "I didn't expect that the chefs in your house are so good at cooking. It makes me hungry."
Akechi Mitsuhide lowered his head when he heard this, hiding the smile at the corner of his mouth, then raised his head and said, "I did it."
"Ah?" Yu Qiuping was stunned when he heard this, and the tempura held between his chopsticks almost fell into the miso soup in front of him, "How can you do this?"
"Shouldn't women be able to do this?" Akechi Mitsuhide asked softly with his eyes flowing.
"Ah...I..." Yu Qiuping felt a little embarrassed for a moment, but his awkward look made Mitsuhide Akechi cover his mouth and chuckle.
"When I was young, my family was not rich, so I had to learn cooking from my mother and take care of the housework. After I became a 'man', I haven't done it for a long time." Mitsuhide Akechi picked up a piece of sashimi, put it in his mouth and tasted it slowly.
, then asked, "Does Hongye feel unfamiliar?"
"No." In order to make his answer more convincing, Yu Qiuping put several more mouthfuls of food into his mouth, "It's delicious! It's much better than Feng'er."
"Princess Kaede is the daughter of the Imagawa family, why does she need to go to the kitchen?" Akechi Mitsuhide also chuckled, smoothed the hair on the temples with his left hand, and tucked the black hair behind his ears.
"It's great to have you back." Mitsuhide Akechi suddenly mentioned Yu Qiuping's entry into the city as a hostage for some unknown reason.
"Why are you still talking about this? You have been thanking me endlessly before, and you have to say it every day when you see me." Yu Qiuping shook his head pretending to be bitter, "It's true."
"But I'm really grateful..." Mitsuhide Akechi said with some dissatisfaction. Then he realized that his dissatisfaction was very strange, and whispered with some annoyance, "You have done so much for me... I really don't know what to do.
How can I thank you? Why on earth do you want to help me like this?"
"Because I am a bad person, and you are also a good person. Good people help good people." Yu Qiuping said this sentence quickly like a tongue twister, once again amusing the somewhat melancholy Akechi Mitsuhide.
"In the few months I have been with you, I feel like I have laughed more than I have in years." Akechi Mitsuhide tried hard to hold back his smile, but he still said with a smile in his eyes.
"That's me, the source of human happiness." Yu Qiuping was also in a good mood. He actually picked up the glass of sake on the table and took a sip, bragging unceremoniously.
"In the past few months I have been with you, I feel like I have cried more than I have cried in the previous thirty years."
However, Akechi Mitsuhide's next words made Yu Qiuping stunned for a moment. He looked up at Akechi Mitsuhide and found that the woman who had been smiling just now suddenly had tears in her eyes, and he didn't know why.
"Sorry, I'm rude." Akechi Mitsuhide lowered his head, gently wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with a handkerchief, and then fell into silence. Yu Qiuping was a little embarrassed for a moment. He didn't know what to do, so he had to look away from Akechi.
Instead of looking at the scenery outside the window - it was already getting late, and the streets and alleys of Kyoto at the foot of the mountain in the distance were brightly lit in the night.
Yu Qiuping stared blankly at the beautiful scenery, and suddenly felt lost in thought. After an unknown amount of time, he came out with an incoherent sentence: "It would be nice to be in Kyoto when I grow old."
"Huh?" Mitsuhide Akechi looked at Yu Qiuping in confusion.
"I said, when I get old and live in seclusion, it would be nice to live in Kyoto." Yu Qiuping explained to Akechi Mitsuhide with a smile, but his eyes did not leave the direction of Kyoto.
"Don't you live in Maple Leaf Mountain Castle?" Akechi Mitsuhide also glanced in the direction of Kyoto. It was beautiful, but it didn't have the same majestic feeling when looking at Maple Leaf Mountain Castle in the distance.
"Everyone knows me there. I will be recognized when I go to the street to buy groceries or take a walk. I don't want that." Yu Qiuping shook his head, as if he was imagining a future life of seclusion, "When the children are grown up,
Now that I am old enough to be on my own, I just want to find a quiet place where no one knows me. Then I will take Feng'er to live there and live a quiet life."
"Being able to stay with the person you love for the rest of your life is the happiness that many people in this troubled world can only dream of." Akechi Mitsuhide seemed to be touched by Yu Qiuping's words, and whispered with some regret. Only then did Yu Qiuping realize that his words might hurt.
To Akechi Mitsuhide - because of her double identity, she is destined to be unable to find her own happiness.
Yu Qiuping was about to express his condolences, but Akechi Mitsuhide suddenly spoke, as if his mood was not affected, and instead asked about Yu Qiuping's love story: "Hongye, how did you and Princess Feng meet?"
"Ah? Why do you suddenly ask this?" Yu Qiuping's cheeks instantly turned red when he heard this. Akechi Mitsuhide suddenly felt sour in his heart for no reason when he saw his expression.
"We met in the red leaf forest of Sunfu Kitayama." Even after more than ten years, Yu Qiuping still remembers the scene of their first meeting.
"Have you ever had a fight?" Mitsuhide Akechi's next question was so unexpected that Yu Qiuping couldn't react.
"Why do you ask these weird questions..." Yu Qiuping muttered and complained, but out of guilt for his previous gaffe, he decided to satisfy Akechi Mitsuhide's curiosity, "There was a particularly loud noise once, and she didn't like me very much.
You are trying to be stubborn and don't like me carrying all the difficulties alone, so we broke up for more than half a year."
"Were you worried that she would just leave you?" Akechi Mitsuhide's questions were stranger than the last, as if a little sister who didn't understand the world was asking her elder brother for advice on relationship issues.
"Yes, especially in the end I thought she was going to marry someone else." Yu Qiuping thought of the misunderstanding at that time and the tenderness that night, and a smile crept up the corner of his mouth. He stared at the night sky blankly, and that night Imagawa Maple
The face comes to mind.
"Once a woman falls in love with someone, she will not change easily."
Akechi Mitsuhide looked at Yu Qiuping's profile and said softly.
Yu Qiuping thought about the past and just said "hmm" in response to Akechi Mitsuhide. After a while, Akechi Mitsuhide once again asked a question that caused Yu Qiuping a headache.
"Hongye, why haven't you taken a concubine for so many years?"
"Ah?" Yu Qiuping was completely confused by Akechi Mitsuhide, who turned into a problem baby, "Why does Mitsuhide have so many problems today?"
"Hey... just asking." Akechi Mitsuhide lowered his head to avoid Yu Qiuping's sight. He did not end the question with "I'm sorry", but instead expressed his concern for the answer. Yu Qiuping hesitated for a moment, not knowing what to do.
How to explain? Akechi Mitsuhide raised his head, asked and answered: "How can a husband want a wife like this?"
"No, although I really feel that 'what more can a husband ask for when he has a wife like this'? But even if my wife is not that satisfactory to me, I will not take a concubine." Yu Qiuping shook his head and said to Akechi Mitsuhide.
The answer has been corrected.
"Why?" Akechi Mitsuhide asked. Yu Qiuping didn't notice that her voice was trembling slightly.
"Because love is something that requires concentration, and marriage is the confirmation of love. Once you decide to marry her, you should not fall in love with anyone else." Yu Qiuping's solemn tone made Akechi Mitsuhide realize what he was saying.
Something related to his own values.
"According to you, is it wrong to have so many concubines and marry other people?" Akechi Mitsuhide asked a tentative question.
"Of course." Yu Qiuping gave an affirmative answer without hesitation, "There is only one heart, and you can only give part to different people. It is disrespectful to anyone. Love should be wholehearted.
"
"Is that so..." Akechi Mitsuhide's body stiffened for a moment, and her expression was a little dull. Although she already knew it was meaningless, after a while, she still made up her mind and asked hesitantly: "So Momiji, you...
Will you never fall in love with someone else again?"
"No." When mentioning this matter, Yu Qiuping's expression suddenly became lonely. He put his body on the window sill and looked out, "I once failed Long Zi because of this. She was a very good girl...
If I take someone else as my concubine later, who is Longzi? How can I be worthy of her..."
"I see."
Akechi Mitsuhide lowered his head, tears already blurring his eyes. While Yu Qiuping was looking out the window, she quietly took out a small medicine bottle from her arms, opened the lid, and poured all the liquid in the bottle into Yu Qiuping's eyes.
The potion and tears fell together in the wine glass, and the clear wine became even clearer.
After a while, Yu Qiuping looked back and found that Akechi Mitsuhide suddenly cried.
"What's wrong?" Yu Qiuping asked in a panic.
"It's nothing." Mitsuhide Akechi pursed his lips and shook his head, trying his best to smile, "Eat quickly, the rice is getting cold."
Yu Qiuping picked up the wine glass and took a big sip of wine, but his eyes never left Akechi Mitsuhide's face. Akechi Mitsuhide saw Yu Qiuping's thoughts, shook his head and said, "I won't tell you."
"That's the secret."
Akechi Mitsuhide slowly groped behind his back with his little hands and untied the belt on his back.
Chapter completed!